ood on which the
blood-red orb of the sun of '89 rose. The Protestants greeted it with
cries of joy, and indeed the promised liberty gave them back their
country, their civil rights, and the status of French citizens.

Nevertheless, whatever were the hopes of one party or the fears of
the other, nothing had as yet occurred to disturb the prevailing
tranquillity, when, on the 19th and 20th of July, 1789, a body of troops
was formed in the capital of La Gard which was to bear the name of the
Nimes Militia: the resolution which authorised this act was passed by
the citizens of the three orders sitting in the hall of the palace.

It was as follows:--

"Article 10. The Nimes Legion shall consist of a colonel, a
lieutenant-colonel, a major, a lieutenant-major, an adjutant,
twenty-four captains, twenty-four lieutenants, seventy-two sergeants,
seventy-two corporals, and eleven hundred and fifty-two privates--in
all, thirteen hundred and forty-nine men, forming eighty companies.

"Article 11. The place of general assembly shall be the Esplanade.

"Article 12. The eighty companies shall be attached to the four quarters
of the town mentioned below--viz., place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, place de
la Maison-Carree, place Saint-Jean, and place du Chateau.

"Article 13. The companies as they are formed by the permanent council
shall each choose its own captain, lieutenant, sergeants and corporals,
and from the date of his nomination the captain shall have a seat on the
permanent council."

The Nimes Militia was deliberately formed upon certain lines which
brought Catholics and Protestants closely together as allies, with
weapons in their hands; but they stood over a mine which was bound to
explode some day, as the slightest friction between the two parties
would produce a spark.

This state of concealed enmity lasted for nearly a year, being augmented
by political antipathies; for the Protestants almost to man were
Republicans, and the Catholics Royalists.

In the interval--that is to say, towards January, 1790--a Catholic
called Francois Froment was entrusted by the Marquis de Foucault with
the task of raising, organising, and commanding a Royalist party in the
South. This we learn from one of his own letters to the marquis, which
was printed in Paris in 1817. He describes his mode of action in the
following words:--

It is not difficult to understand that being faithful to my religion and
my king, and shocked at the seditious